RISING STARS

A few weeks ago I attended a session of National Geographic’s Explorer Classroom at Georgia Highlands in Rome, Georgia, where students actually see and talk to scientists deep in a cave in South Africa. You can actually watch the session here:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmXbd4zIFVE . The technology is amazing these days, and I was especially excited to see the session because one of my former students, Hannah Morris, was one of the scientists who made an exciting discovery four years ago, and she was back for another excavation with the Rising Star Expedition. You can learn more about the expedition here: 

http://voices.nationalgeographic.org/blog/rising-star-expedition/.

One of the things which interests me about the whole expedition is that all the scientists who went into the cave were women. Dr. Berger introduced the three who were in the cave during the classroom experience as “some of the brightest and most skilled scientists” in the country. My former student mentioned that she is close to completing her Ph. D., and that the other two have already completed theirs. Listening to the three of them describe their experiences and their process for this particular excavation left no doubt that these are exceptional scientists.

What was of particular significance to me in reference to my recent research was that not too many years ago these bright young scientists would not have been able to participate in this exciting expedition. Although many say that there is still much work to be done in the area of making opportunities for female scientists equal to those for men, one thing is clear: the work that women had to do out of necessity during World War II was the beginning of a trend in women’s role in the workplace, including in the field of science. It continued during the Cold War in  the 1950’s.

According to Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences (PNAS), women have made great strides in the field of science since 1970 (http://www.pnas.org/content/108/8/3157.full ). That fact is evident in looking at the Rising Star Expedition, but I don’t believe that could have ever happened without the work of all those women during WWII, who proved that women can do anything men can!

Merrill J. Davies, Writer, Facebook Page:http://on.fb.me/1HHkUXf

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